With advances in bio-technology, plant propagules no longer take only the traditional forms of true seeds or large plant parts or cuttings. Plant propagules are now often small and quite delicate. They may be somatic embryos or pre-germinated seeds, for example.
These newer forms of propagules have presented new problems to commercial growers seeking to establish plants; transplanting or gel drilling are the principal prior-art methods used. A proprietary method of encapsulating propagules in gel has recently been developed, in which the encapsulated propagules are uniform spheres and can be handled more easily than can unencapsulated embryos. If the capsules are themselves coated, present equipment can be used to plant them with precision. However, the coating of capsules entails extra expense and may be detrimental to the efficacy and viability of the propagules.
The gel capsules are 90% water, and in uncoated form will maintain a film of water on the surface of the capsules. The surface tension of this water film creates difficulties in handling the capsules. The capsules tend to stick to one another and to any other wettable surface. They become difficult to handle and difficult to singulate in air.
An object of the invention is to singulate uncoated gel capsules and to deliver the uncoated capsules to a planting bed.
Another object is to keep the uncoated capsules from sticking to each other during both singulation and delivery.
Another object is to enable accurate metering of uncoated gel capsules, so that they can be delivered to a propagating bed mechanically at accurately metered intervals.
A further object is to provide apparatus for carrying out both singulation and evenly spaced planting of uncoated gel capsules.